Outrage after Egyptian worker brutally beaten by Kuwaiti national

Kuwait’s Interior Ministry arrested a Kuwaiti national who brutally assaulted an Egyptian man at his workplace in an incident that triggered huge anger among social media users.

A Kuwaiti man was seen severely beating Egyptian expat Wahid Mahmoud Refaie, a worker at a shop for motorcycle spare parts, in CCTV footage that went viral on Tuesday.

“It’s the staff’s lunch time now,” was all the Egyptian worker said when the Kuwaiti customer got too enraged and brutally beat the worker, by knocking him down and kicking his head several times, security officials were quoted by the Kuwait Times newspaper as saying.

Authorities said they arrested the assailant late on Wednesday who admitted to beating the salesman. They said coworkers tried to restrain the angry customer but he returned with a large rod and repeatedly hit the prone salesman in the face.

The victim is currently receiving treatment from "serious injuries" at a local hospital. Also, Kuwaiti police are hearing his testimony about the incident, the Egyptian consulate said in a statement.

The consulate said it is following up on developments in the investigation to ensure that Refaie's rights are preserved.

In May 2016, a similar incident happened where a video went viral online showing a Kuwaiti man beating his Egyptian employee with a stick as the victim cried and pleaded.